Water leak detection with drone thermography, georadar and correlators

Every unrepaired leak is water that vanishes and pumping energy paid for nothing. In Campania, losses reach 60-70% of the water fed into the network, and on a national scale ARERA and the PNRR funds set operators a clear goal: reduce Non-Revenue Water (NRW). The problem is that you can't reduce what you can't locate precisely.

Our water leak detection was built for exactly this. We don't rely on a single instrument or a "gut-feeling" survey: we combine airborne and ground thermography, correlators and geophones and georadar (GPR) to read the network from above, from the ground and from underground, cross-checking the data until the break emerges. The result is not a generic report, but a georeferenced anomaly catalog: ID, coordinates, severity and photos, ready to send the crew to the exact spot.

This is the same method we applied across more than 50 municipalities in the province of Salerno for CONSAC, with ~80% preliminary accuracy later confirmed on the ground. We operate from Caggiano (SA) across all of Italy, alongside water operators, consortia and municipalities that want to move from emergency cost to planned investment — with the certainty of data, not guesswork.

What we do: three technologies, one truth on the ground

Every network is different, so we don't sell "the drone" or "the georadar" as separate services: we orchestrate them together to reach reliable localization. The technologies we deploy:

• Airborne and ground thermography — water that escapes alters the temperature of the ground and surfaces. The thermal camera "sees" it where the eye can't reach, even on extensive sections that are hard to inspect on foot.
• Correlators and geophones — acoustic ground analysis to confirm the presence of the break and locate it precisely on the suspect section.
• Georadar (GPR) — to look underground: tracing buried pipes, utilities and voids, useful where the network mapping is incomplete or missing.

Cross-checking the three layers of reading is what reduces false positives: a thermal anomaly turns into a dig only when it is also acoustically confirmed. That way the crew never sets off "blind".

How we work: from network to data, in clear phases

We treat leak detection as a digital check-up of the network, not as a single survey. The path unfolds in phases:

1. Framing and digitalization — we reconstruct the network geometry (pipes, valves, nodes) in georeferenced files, even starting from partial maps.
2. Multi-technology survey — airborne/ground thermography on the sections of interest, integrated with available flow and pressure data.
3. Ground confirmation — correlators, geophones and georadar to validate and locate every suspect anomaly.
4. Georeferenced cataloging — each leak is "pinned" on the map with ID, GPS coordinates, severity class and photos.
5. Operational delivery — outputs ready for the maintenance crew and, on request, a WebGIS dashboard with intervention history and KPIs.

We work in agreed time windows to capture the network in different conditions (peak summer demand, autumn recovery), because that is how the leaks a "spot" check misses come to light.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

This service is designed for those who manage water networks and must account for them in numbers, tenders and the energy balance sheet:

• Water operators and utility companies that must reduce NRW and demonstrate results to ARERA or in PNRR tenders.
• Consortia and municipalities with extensive networks, incomplete mapping and maintenance budgets to optimize.
• Industrial and agricultural businesses with private networks (cooling, irrigation, process) where every break weighs on costs and continuity.

It isn't the right choice if you're looking for a simple visual inspection of a single known section: in that case a traditional survey is enough. Our value emerges when the network is large, the break point is uncertain and every wrong dig is a pure cost.

What you get: concrete deliverables and benefits

At the end of the work you're not left with a report to interpret, but with operational tools:

• Georeferenced thermal maps at high resolution of the surveyed sections.
• Anomaly catalog exportable to GIS (coordinates, severity class, photos), with the exact point where to dig.
• Technical report of the work, also useful to document repairs in tenders and acceptance testing.
• On request, a WebGIS dashboard with intervention history and KPIs, plus export in standard technical formats (GeoTIFF, LAS/LAZ).

The return is direct: preventive repairs cost up to 10× less than emergency call-outs (overtime, third-party damage, water tankers, service disruptions); and without monitoring you pay 100% of the pumping energy even for the water that is lost, up to 40% wasted. Fewer wasted digs, fewer man-hours, road reinstatement kept to a minimum.

How to start and what determines the price

It starts with a network diagnosis: you send us what you have (size, even partial maps, known critical points, flow/pressure data) and we define together the priority area and the NRW reduction goals.

The quote is always tailored, because the cost depends on real factors and not on a fixed price list:

• size and density of the network to cover (km and number of nodes);
• accessibility of the sections and technologies required (thermography alone or also georadar/correlators);
• depth of delivery (static anomaly catalog or WebGIS platform with recurring monitoring).

Precisely because the network changes over time, alongside the one-off survey we offer repeatable surveys (every six months or annually) that compare the states of the network and bring new anomalies to light. Write to us to set up the first diagnosis: we'll tell you where it makes sense to start even before the quote.